John Kerry to GOP Sen. Johnson: “those of us who went to” the Benghazi briefing saw what occurred

While each Republican took the mic yesterday during the Benghazi hearing asking the same questions again and again, as if expecting a different answer, I think they thought Wednesday was a two-for-one sale– admonishing both President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who may just run in 2016. Sen. Ron Johnson went for an opening and fell flat. And now he’s being called out by John Kerry in his mild mannered way.

From yesterday:

Hillary responded, “Senator, when you’re in these positions, the last thing you want to do is interfere with any other process going on,” Clinton said, adding that the State Department was waiting for the FBI to finish conducting interviews.

“I realize that’s a good excuse,” Johnson responded.

“Well, no, it’s a fact,” Clinton said. “Even today, there are questions being raised. We have no doubt they were terrorists, they were militants, they attacked us, they killed our people. But what was going on, and why they were doing what they were doing, is still, is still unknown.”

Kerry: I think it was very clear… were you at the briefing with the tapes?Johnson: No.

Kerry: Well, there was a briefing with tapes, which we all saw—those of us who went to it—uh, which made it crystal clear. We sat for several hours with our intel folks, who described to us precisely what we were seeing. We saw all of the events unfold. We had a very complete and detailed description.

This must be the same Benghazi briefing that Sen. McCain also missed, back when McCain was being one of the most prominent senators assuring us that there was probably something fishy with this whole Benghazi thing. The reason McCain missed the briefing, you will recall, was that he was holding a press conference angrily demanding the senate be given briefings like that. This may have something to do with why McCain grumpily defended Johnson today, or not.